Method and apparatus for transmitting a multimedia data packet

ABSTRACT

A method and an apparatus for transmitting a multimedia data packet are provided. The method includes generating Media Abstraction Layer (MAL) information for abstracting information on the multimedia data to be transmitted, generating a multimedia data packet including said MAL information, and transmitting the generated multimedia data packet to a network entity.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION(S)

This application is a National Stage application under 35 U.S.C. §371 ofan International application filed on Jan. 19, 2012 and assignedapplication No. PCT/KR2012/000503, and claims the benefit under 35U.S.C. §365(b) of a Korean patent application filed on Jan. 19, 2011 inthe Korean Intellectual Property Office and assigned Serial No.10-2011-0005606, the entire disclosure of which is hereby incorporatedby reference.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present disclosure relates to a method and an apparatus fortransmitting a multimedia data packet. More particularly, the presentdisclosure relates to a method and an apparatus for transmitting amultimedia data packet adaptively according to a Quality of Service(QoS) scheme.

BACKGROUND

A multimedia service refers to, for example, a conversational service,such as a video phone, a streaming service, such as a Video On Demand(VOD) service, a multicast or broadcast service, or the like. A realtime multimedia service can be divided into a conversational service, aninteractive service, a streaming service, and the like. Further, thereal time multimedia service can be divided into a unicast service, amulticast service, and a broadcast service, according to the number ofusers who participates in the service.

In order to provide a multimedia service, a scheme for providing a QoSin a network may be divided into a Best Effort (BE) scheme, a per-classQoS scheme, and a per-flow QoS scheme.

First, in the BE scheme, no support is provided for QoS. The per-classQoS scheme is a scheme in which packets have different degrees ofimportance and the packets are processed according to the degrees of theimportance in the middle of the network. For example, in the per-classQoS scheme, a QoS control is performed according to a degree ofimportance, that is, according to a priority, of a corresponding packet,regardless of a flow to which the corresponding packet belongs. In orderto support the per-class QoS scheme, a resource reservation between atransmission side and a reception side is not required. For example, thepriority may be a loss priority, a delay priority, or the like.

The per-flow QoS scheme may be a scheme for reserving a resource perstream. For example, a resource (for example, a bit rate, or a bufferstatus) or QoS (i.e., a delay, a loss rate, or the like) is reserved perflow. Here, the flow refers to a stream used for a service. For example,a video stream, an audio stream, and a text stream which are used forproviding a VOD service become separate flows, respectively.

In a Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) 3^(rd) Generation(3G) of the 3G Partnership Project (3GPP) as well as the Institute ofElectrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.16 (Wireless Broadband(WiBRO), Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access (WIMAX)), andLong Term Evolution (LTE) systems, a standard is established to supporta per-class QoS scheme and a per-flow QoS scheme. However, in order touse the QoS scheme, an interface between a media layer of a higher layerand a network layer of a lower layer is needed.

Degrees of importance of video packets are different from packet topacket when using Moving Picture Experts Group-2 (MPEG-2) and H.264, orespecially using Scalable Video Coding (SVC). In order to effectivelycontrol a QoS of a video service, the difference of the degrees ofimportance from packet to packet should be recognized. In an IPv6, inorder to identify the importance by packet, after 5 tuples including arecipient's address, a sender's address, a port number of acorresponding service in the recipient's apparatus, a port number of acorresponding service in the sender's apparatus, and a protocol to beused are read, header data for identifying degrees of importance ofpackets should be read. This method needs time for processing eachpacket, and the independence of the protocol layer is violated. Forexample, packets should have been processed in a router with IP headersof packets, but it is not possible according to this method.

If degrees of importance by packet can be identified easily, a QoScontrol in a router may be performed smoothly. For example, if thenetwork status is not good, packets can be removed from a less importantpacket according to importance of the packets.

Meanwhile, an SVC technique and a Multi-view Video Coding (MVC)technique which are in the process of standardization are based on theH.264/Advanced Video Coding (AVC) standard. Further, a NetworkAbstraction Layer Unit (NALU) format is also used in the configurationof bit strings of coded data.

FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating a Video Coding Layer (VCL) and aNetwork Abstraction Layer (NAL) in H.264/AVC according to the relatedart.

Referring to FIG. 1, in H.264/AVC, a NAL 120 is defined between a VCL110 that performs a video encoding process itself and a subsystem 130that transmits and stores the coded information. Therefore, the VCL andthe NAL are separated.

In order to map coded data 111 generated in the VCL, into bit stringsfor a subsystem, such as an H.264/AVC file format 131, a Real-timeTransport Protocol (RTP) 133, or an MPEG-2 system 135, the NAL 120processes the coded data 111 generated in the VCL, a parameter set, orinformation, such as Supplemental Enhancement Information (SEI) 113 in aNALU.

The NAL unit is divided into a VCL NAL unit 123 and a non-VCL NAL unit125. The VCL NAL unit 123 is a NAL unit that corresponds to the codeddata 111 generated in the VCL, while the non-VCL NAL unit 125 is a NALunit that corresponds to a parameter set and information, such as a SEI113.

The NAL unit basically includes a NAL header and Raw Byte SequencePayload (RBSP) which is a data part generated as a result of a videocompression in a VCL.

FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating a format of a NAL unit according to therelated art.

Referring to FIG. 2, a NAL unit 200 includes a NAL header 210 and a NALpayload 240.

The NAL header 210 generally has a size of 1 to 5 bytes. The NAL header210 includes NALU type information 220 for indicating a kind of the NALunit, and Layer Identification Information 230 for identifying acompressed layer of an original data included in the NALU payload.

The NALU type information 220 includes one bit of a fixed bit (F) field221, two bits of a nal_ref_idc (NRI) field 222 for indicating whetherthe video is a reference picture or not, and five bits of a NALU typefield 223 which is an identifier for indicating a kind of the NAL unit.

The layer identification information 230 may include a combination of apriority, a spatial hierarchy level, a temporal hierarchy level, and/ora quality hierarchy level. For example, the layer identificationinformation 230 may include 8 bits of a priority field (hereinafterreferred to as “P”) 231 for indicating priority so that the compressedlayer of the original data can be identified, 3 to 8 bits of aDependency_id field (hereinafter referred to as “D”) 232 for indicatinga spatial hierarchy level, 3 to 8 bits of a Temporal_level field(hereinafter referred to as “T”) 233 for indicating a temporal hierarchylevel, and 2 to 8 bits of a Quality_level field (hereinafter referred toas “Q”) 234 for indicating a quality hierarchy level.

For reference, the format of the NALU is used in Multi-view Video Coding(MVC). Besides, in MVC, together with the NALU type information 220,instead of the layer identification information 230, view identificationinformation for identifying a view can be included.

According to the format of the NAL unit according to the SVC or MVC ofthe related art, in order to identify the layer or the view of NAL unit,the layer identification information 230 or the view identificationinformation of the NAL header needs to be parsed. Especially, the layeridentification information 230 has a size of 4 bytes or less, and thelayer to which the corresponding NAL unit belongs can be determined whenvalues of the P 231, the D 232, the T 233, and the Q 234 are known byparsing the NAL header 210. However, parsing the entire NAL header 210in order to find out the values of the P 231, the D 232, the T 233, andthe Q 234 becomes a burden to a processor, and may be a cause ofincreasing the cost of a system.

Further, the NAL header 210 includes various kinds of information foridentifying importance of packets like the layer identificationinformation 230, such as the D 232, the T 233, and the Q 234 in additionto the NRI field 222 and the Priority field (P) 231. It is difficult touse the information since the relations among the kinds of informationare not defined. For example, relating to the D 232, the T 233, and theQ 234 of the layer identification information, when a packet having “1”as a value of the D 232 and a packet having “1” as a value of the T 233exist, if a relation for expecting a coding process is not understood,hierarchy on the priorities of the two packets may not be identified.Further, a NAL layer in a network of the related art is designed for avideo service.

Therefore, for a future media service in which various media components,such as audios, videos, texts, and user interfaces are combined, a needexists for a multimedia abstraction layer which can be abstractedregardless of kinds of media components.

The above information is presented as background information only toassist with an understanding of the present disclosure. No determinationhas been made, and no assertion is made, as to whether any of the abovemight be applicable as prior art with regard to the present disclosure.

SUMMARY

Aspects of the present disclosure are to address at least theabove-mentioned problems and/or disadvantages and to provide at leastthe advantages described below. Accordingly, an aspect of the presentdisclosure provides a method and an apparatus for adaptively providing amultimedia service when providing a multimedia service.

Another aspect of the present disclosure is to provide a method and anapparatus for providing a multimedia service by a Media AbstractionLayer (MAL) that enables information in an application layer to be usedin a lower network layer by abstracting various media elements.

Another aspect of the present disclosure is to provide a method and anapparatus for providing a multimedia service by a MAL that providesspecific importance information for a lower layer based on theunderstanding in a Moving Picture Experts Group (MPEG) level.

Another aspect of the present disclosure is to provide a method and anapparatus for providing a multimedia service that enables easier accessto information in a lower layer by inserting information generated by aMAL to an Internet Protocol (IP) header.

In accordance with an aspect of the present disclosure, a method oftransmitting a multimedia data packet is provided. The method includesgenerating MAL information for abstracting information relating tomultimedia data to be transmitted, generating a multimedia data packetincluding the MAL information, and transmitting the multimedia datapacket to a network entity.

In accordance with another aspect of the present disclosure, a methodfor forwarding a multimedia data packet by an entity on a network isprovided. The method includes receiving the multimedia data packetincluding MAL information for abstracting information relating tomultimedia data information from a transmitter, and forwarding themultimedia data packet based on the received MAL information.

In accordance with another aspect of the present disclosure, anapparatus for transmitting a multimedia data packet is provided. Theapparatus includes a MAL apparatus configured to generate MALinformation for abstracting information relating to multimedia data tobe transmitted, and a packet generating unit configured to generate amultimedia data packet including the MAL information and transmit thegenerated multimedia data packet to a network entity.

In accordance with another aspect of the present disclosure, a networkentity apparatus for forwarding a multimedia data packet is provided.The network entity apparatus includes a forwarding policy determiningunit configured to receive a multimedia data packet including MALinformation for abstracting information relating to multimedia data froma transmitter, and forward the multimedia data packet based on thereceived MAL information.

In accordance with aspects of the present disclosure, a MAL that isapplicable to all kinds of multimedia data is provided, so that amultimedia service can be provided by reflecting a priority, a resourcereservation status, and a requirement of a user.

Further, in accordance with aspects of the present disclosure, asimplified configuration of a header is provided and an apparatus thatreceives an IP packet does not need to parse fields corresponding to aflow label every time so that a receiving apparatus can effectivelyutilize resources.

Other aspects, advantages, and salient features of the disclosure willbecome apparent to those skilled in the art from the following detaileddescription, which, taken in conjunction with the annexed drawings,discloses various embodiments of the present disclosure.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The above and other aspects, features, and advantages of certainembodiments of the present disclosure will be more apparent from thefollowing description taken in conjunction with the accompanyingdrawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating a Video Coding Layer (VCL) and aNetwork Abstraction Layer (NAL) in H.264/Advanced Video Coding (AVC)according to the related art;

FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating a format of a NAL unit according to therelated art;

FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating a configuration of a transmitteraccording to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating a method of inserting Media AbstractionLayer (MAL) information to an Internet Protocol (IP) packet according toan embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating a configuration of an IP packet headerincluding MAL information according to an embodiment of the presentdisclosure;

FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating a configuration of a Media AwareNetwork Element (MANE) according to an embodiment of the presentdisclosure; and

FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating a configuration of a receivingapparatus according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

Throughout the drawings, it should be noted that like reference numbersare used to depict the same or similar elements, features, andstructures.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The following description with reference to the accompanying drawings isprovided to assist in a comprehensive understanding of variousembodiments of the present disclosure as defined by the claims and theirequivalents. It includes various specific details to assist in thatunderstanding but these are to be regarded as merely exemplary.Accordingly, those of ordinary skill in the art will recognize thatvarious changes and modifications of the embodiments described hereincan be made without departing from the scope and spirit of the presentdisclosure. In addition, descriptions of well-known functions andconstructions may be omitted for clarity and conciseness.

The terms and words used in the following description and claims are notlimited to the bibliographical meanings, but, are merely used by theinventor to enable a clear and consistent understanding of the presentdisclosure. Accordingly, it should be apparent to those skilled in theart that the following description of various embodiments of the presentdisclosure is provided for illustration purpose only and not for thepurpose of limiting the present disclosure as defined by the appendedclaims and their equivalents.

It is to be understood that the singular forms “a,” “an,” and “the”include plural referents unless the context clearly dictates otherwise.Thus, for example, reference to “a component surface” includes referenceto one or more of such surfaces.

By the term “substantially” it is meant that the recited characteristic,parameter, or value need not be achieved exactly, but that deviations orvariations, including for example, tolerances, measurement error,measurement accuracy limitations and other factors known to those ofskill in the art, may occur in amounts that do not preclude the effectthe characteristic was intended to provide.

An embodiment of the present disclosure improves a concept of a NetworkAbstraction Layer (NAL) used in standards for video data, such as MovingPicture Experts Group-4/Advanced Video Coding (MPEG-4/AVC), H.264,Scalable Video Coding (SVC), and Multi-view Video Coding (MVC) so thatthe improved concept can be applied to a video data service and dataservices for other media (for example, audio, graphics, or texts).

As illustrated in FIG. 2, the NAL header 210 of the related art includesvarious kinds of information for indicating a degree of importance of avideo packet. Further, the NAL header used in SVC includes the layeridentification information 230 for recognizing a temporal layer, aspatial layer, and a quality layer, and the NAL header used in MVCincludes information for indicating view numbers.

The information included in the NAL header is abstracted and generatedin a top-down interface transmitted from the higher protocol layer tothe lower protocol layer. Since the information included in the NALheader can indicate the degree of the importance of the correspondingpacket, a packet service can be adaptively provided according to thestatus of the network or the terminal depending on the information.

The present disclosure defines identifiers referred to as “mediaclassifier” and “label” for expanding the concept of the NAL to allkinds of media. According to the present disclosure, the “mediaclassifier” provides priority information which is abstracted so thatpriority information included in the media can be used by the lowerprotocol layer without concrete understanding on the media. The “label”is an identifier for differentiating each stream (for example, a videostream or an audio stream).

An aspect of the present disclosure suggests a Media Abstraction Layer(MAL) which is a top-down interface for abstracting information relatingto media data to be transmitted. In the description below, the datarelated information which is abstracted in MAL may be called MALinformation.

According to another aspect of the present disclosure, a transmitter(i.e., a server or a terminal) generates MAL information and transmitsthe MAL information included in a header of a packet. A network entity(i.e., a router, a base station, or the like) uses the MAL informationto identify a degree of importance of the packet and resourcereservation status, and transmits the packet accordingly.

FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating a configuration of a transmitteraccording to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

Referring to FIG. 3, a transmitter 300 includes a media data supplyingunit 301, a media abstraction layer apparatus 302, and a packetgenerating unit 303. Here, the transmitter 300 may be, for example, aserver for transmitting a multimedia service.

The media abstraction layer apparatus 302 receives 308 one InternetProtocol (IP) packet from the media data supplying unit 301, generatesMAL information, and transmits 310 the MAL information to the packetgenerating unit 303. Further, the media abstraction layer apparatus 302transmits 309 the IP packet received from the media data supplying unit301 to the packet generating unit 303.

At this point, the MAL information relating to corresponding media datagenerated in the media abstraction layer apparatus 302 may include mediaclassifier information and label information. As described above, themedia classifier information may be used for recognizing abstractedinformation on a degree of importance of the media packet at a lowernetwork, while the label information may be used for identifying thepacket by a lower network.

The packet generating unit 303 generates a packet by using an IP packet309 and the MAL information 310 received from the media abstractionlayer apparatus 302, and transmits 311 the generated packet through anetwork 313. The media classifier information and the label informationincluded in the MAL information may be included in a header of the IPpacket or a header of the packet of another lower protocol.

An example of transmitting a packet according to the configuration asillustrated in FIG. 3 is described as follows.

First, a per-class Quality of Service (QoS) scheme that uses a mediaclassifier generated in MAL is described.

It is assumed that a media classifier of an audio data stream, a mediaclassifier of a text data stream, and a media classifier of a video datastream are appointed (or set) to be 1, 2, and 3, respectively, between aserver and a terminal. Further, it is assumed that priorities on thestreams to which the media classifiers are set are appointed among atransmission side, a network entity, and a reception side.

At this point, if the transmission side desires to transmit a video datapacket, a packet is generated and transmitted so that the mediaclassifier information included in the corresponding packet is set to be3. The network entity (for example, a router) may recognize a QoS classof the received packet by the media classifier information (for example,3) included in the received packet. Thereafter, the network entity maydetermine whether to forward the packet in consideration of the networkstatus and the forwarding policy of the QoS class.

Subsequently, a per-flow QoS scheme (for example, per-stream) that useslabel information generated in the MAL is described.

It is assumed that a label of an audio data stream, a label of a textdata stream, and a label of a video data stream are appointed (or set)to be 1, 2, and 3, respectively, between the server and the terminal.

At this point, if the transmission side desires to transmit a video datapacket, a packet is generated and transmitted so that the labelinformation included in the corresponding packet is set to be 3.Thereafter, a network entity (for example, a router) may recognize adegree of importance, a priority, or resource reservation information ofthe received packet by the label information (for example, 3) of thereceived packet. Thereafter, the network entity may transmit the packetin consideration of the network status and the degree of the importance,the priority, or the resource reservation information of the receivedpacket.

The label by data stream and the degree of the importance, the priority,or the resource reservation information according to the label may beset in a process of a call setting among the transmission side, thereception side, and the network entity.

Hereinafter, the MAL information proposed in the present disclosurewhich is media abstraction layer information is described.

The MAL information included in a packet includes media classifierinformation for classifying an abstracted QoS class of a correspondingmedia by a network entity in a lower layer, and information forrecognizing a degree of loss importance, a degree of delay importance, apriority, or resource reservation information of the data packet, in aform of a label (for example, a tag). Meanwhile, a format of the MALinformation proposed by the present disclosure may be used together withother protocol standards of the related art, for example, an IP header,a Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) header, a User Datagram Protocol(UDP) header, and a Real-time Transport Protocol (RTP) header.

In order to provide a media service by using the MAL information, a callsetting process between networks at transmission and reception sides isneeded. For example, through the call configuration process, each of thenetwork entities may appoint what the label values mean.

A table that lists values of what each of the label values means iscalled a Label Table (LT). If a call configuration process betweennetworks at transmission and reception sides may be difficult like abroadcast network, a method for transmitting the LT at periodic timeintervals may be used like Program Map Tables (PMT) of an MPEG-2 system.

Meanwhile, the MAL information may be classified into a media classifierformat for the per-class QoS scheme and a label format for theper-stream QoS scheme.

The per-class QoS scheme abstracts a corresponding medium based onrequirements for the loss rate and the transmission delay without aresource reservation process for service provision between thetransmission side and the reception side, and includes the abstractedmedium in a format of a classifier.

For example, when one media service includes a video stream, an audiostream, and a text stream for supporting a subtitle, the MAL abstractsQoS classes according to transmission delay and loss requirements of thestreams and determines the media classifier values to formats forclassifying the abstracted classes. Selectively, the degree of theimportance of the audio stream may be higher than the degree of theimportance of the video stream. As illustrated in FIG. 4 describedbelow, the value of the media classifier may be inserted to a Type OfService (TOS) field of an Internet Protocol version 4 (IPv4) header or aTraffic Class (TC) field of an Internet Protocol version 6 (IPv6)header. For example, if the value of the media classifier is set to be 2bits, degrees of the importance of the packets are differentiated into11, 10, 01, and 00 in sequence, respectively. For example, 11, 10, and01 may be inserted as values of the media classifiers to the audiopacket, the text packet, and the video packet, respectively.

Subsequently, an example of applying different media classifiers for aplurality of sub streams that configures a single stream is described asfollows.

If a video stream may be classified into three layers (i.e., a basiclayer, an enhancement layer 1, and an enhancement layer 2) of differentpriorities like SVC, the basic layer has higher priority and the firstarrival of the basic layer should be guaranteed. Thus, a QoS class withless transmission delay and packet loss is assigned to the basic layer.QoS classes with lower priorities are assigned to the first and secondenhancement layers rather than the basic layer. If the size of the mediaclassifier is set to be 2 bits like the example described above, the QoSclasses for the basic layer, the enhancement layer 1, and theenhancement layer 2 may be differentiated to be 11, 10, and 01,respectively.

In the per-flow QoS scheme, resource reservation is performed stream bystream, and a corresponding flow has label information for the resourcereservation. For example, if it is assumed that a resource of 300 kbpsis reserved for a flow having a level value which is set to be 1, when alabel value which is generated at the transmission side and included inthe packet is 1 and the network entity identifies the label valueincluded in the packet, the corresponding flow is to be transmitted byusing a resource of 300 kbps corresponding to the label value of 1 basedon the LT transmitted in the call setting process and the label value ofthe packet. Selectively, at this point, a currently available resourcemay be considered together.

Further, the resource reservation may be performed session by session.For example, according to whether a unit for the resource reservationfor supporting label switching at the time of the call setting betweenthe networks at transmission and reception sides is a stream unit or asession unit, the label information can be set by a stream unit or by asession unit.

Further, the resource reservation process and the label informationsetting may be appointed in the call setting process between thetransmission and reception sides. At this point, when the network entitysupports Multi Protocol Label Switching (MPLS), the format of the labelmay be configured to have compatibility with the format of the labelsupported by the MPLS. At this point, if the reception side canrecognize the label that has the compatibility with the label of theMPLS scheme, the NAL header of the related art which is defined in anSVC may not be transmitted. Further, the information that does notchange during one session among content of the RTP header and UDP headerof the related art may be inserted to the label. The label switching isa technique in which the packet at the third layer is routed at thesecond layer. In the technique, a separate label is added instead of anIP address in the data packet, and switching is performed by using theadded label, so that the high speed switching can be performed.

Subsequently, a method of transmitting the MAL information is described.

FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating a method of inserting MAL informationto an IP packet according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

Referring to FIG. 4, a virtual header for a MAL packet is defined in aMAL information format. The content included in a virtual header is tobe included in a packet header in a lower layer (for example, an IPpacket header). A virtual header 420 is internally classified into amedia classifier header 421 and a label header 422.

The media classifier header 421 may be applied when the lower layer usesthe per-class QoS scheme, a length of the media classifier header 421may be different according to the system setting. If the compatibilitywith the per-class QoS protocol of the lower layer is considered, thelength is 3 to 6 bits. The media classifier header 421 may be insertedto a TOS field 411 of an IPv4 header 410 and a TC field 431 of an IPv6header 430.

The label header 422 can be applied when the lower layer uses theper-flow QoS scheme. The label header 422 with the size of 8 bitsincludes 7 bits including a label number and 1 bit of an expansion flagbit for expansion, if needed. The label header 422 may be inserted to anextended IP header 413 of the IPv4 header 410 and to a flow label field433 of the IPv6 header 430.

FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating a configuration of an IP packet headerincluding MAL information according to an embodiment of the presentdisclosure.

Referring to FIG. 5, it illustrates a method of simplifying a header byremoving repeated parts in the UDP header and the RTP header among aplurality of packets and inserting such information to LT, in order toapply the simplified header to a real-time media stream. Referencenumerals 510, 530, and 540 denote IPv4 packets, and reference numeral550 denotes an IPv6 packet. FIG. 5 shows an example of generating labelinformation by simplifying the UDP header and the RTP header in eachpacket.

Reference numeral 510 denotes a media packet for transmitting real timemedia data, such as an on-demand video service. Reference numeral 560denotes a UDP header, and reference numeral 570 denotes an RTP header.

In a real time media service, tens or hundreds of packets per second aretransmitted for one session in general. Due to the nature of the realtime media stream, headers of transmitted media packets include fieldsthat similarly repeat in each packet transmitted for one session.Reference numeral 511, 512, 514, 515, 518, 519, and 520 are fields thatrepeat for each packet, and reference numeral 513, 516 (or 533, 542,552), and 517 are fields that differentiate by packet (of course, thefields may be the same or be overlapped with other fields), but thedescription of the fields will not be provided since it may make thesubject matter of the present disclosure rather unclear.

One of the important fields is a Network Abstraction Layer Header (NALH)field of reference numeral 520. The field represents an NAL header andincludes a degree of importance or priority of a packet as illustratedin FIG. 2.

In the packet denoted by reference numeral 530, the fields 511, 512,514, 515, 518, 519, and 520 that repeat in the UDP header 560 and theRTP header 570 of the packet 520 are combined to be inserted into oneitem of label information (flow label field) 531, and the fields 513,516, and 517 that may be different packet by packet will be arrangedafter the flow label field 531 (equivalent to flow label field 541).

In the packet denoted by reference numeral 530, a length field 532overlaps a length field (not illustrated) included in the IP header.Therefore, the length field 532 may be omitted. Further, a TS field 534is a time stamp wherein if the generation of the media data 535(equivalent to media data 521, 535, 543, and 553) is periodic,information of the time stamp can be known according to the calculationat the reception side, and therefore the information can be omitted.

The packet denoted by reference numeral 540 indicates the length field532 that overlaps in the packet denoted by reference numeral 530 and apacket in which the TS field 534 which can be calculated at thereception side is omitted.

The packet denoted by reference numeral 550 illustrates an IPv6 packet.An IPv6 header 551 has a 24-bit-long flow label field, and the MALinformation can be inserted to the IPv6 header by using the field.

When using the unsimplified header of the related art, the receptionside should parse all fields. However, if the header is simplified asillustrated in FIG. 5, the fields corresponding to the flow label maynot be parsed every time.

The MAL information defined in the present disclosure has been describedas above. The MAL information like this may provide a service thatguarantees a per-class QoS scheme and a per-flow QoS scheme by using adegree of importance and a priority which are abstracted withoutunderstanding on a media stream.

Meanwhile, in an MPEG technique, a network entity that performsforwarding by understanding a degree of importance of media and priorityinformation and using the same is referred to as a Media Aware NetworkElement (MANE). Referring to the operation of the MANE, for example, thenetwork entity that forwards a received media packet like a router, aMedia Access Control (MAC) of an Institute of Electrical and ElectronicsEngineers (IEEE) 802 series, or a Broadcast Multicast Service Center(BMSC) of a 3GPP series may operate as a MANE that can performforwarding adaptively according to a degree of importance of a packetaccording to the media classifier information included in the MALinformation. For example, in a router that uses a Differentiated Service(DiffServ) routing scheme, if data exceeds a buffer, packets are removedfrom a packet with a lower priority. For this, a value of a mediaclassifier of the MAL information is determined.

In a per-class QoS scheme, the network entity adaptively processespackets using a degree of importance included in the IP header, that is,a value of a media classifier, regardless of the kind of the service towhich the received packet belongs. For example, when it is received thata value of a media classifier of an audio packet is 11, a value of amedia classifier of a video packet in a basic layer is 10, a value of amedia classifier of a video packet in an enhancement layer 1 is 01, anda value of a media classifier of the video packet in an enhancementlayer 2 is 00, if the network entity should remove one of the packetsdue to the network status or an excess of a router buffer, the networkentity should remove a packet according to the media classifier value.For example, packets are removed in a sequence of the video packet inthe enhancement layer 2, the video packet in the enhancement layer 1,the video packet in the basic layer, and the basic layer. For example,in the IEEE 802.11e standard, a packet is inserted to a queue determinedaccording to information on the degree of the importance written on theIP header. Priorities are set in 4 levels, and the speed of a packetpassing through the queue and a method of processing a packet loss maybe different queue by queue.

In a per-flow QoS scheme, a level value which is a media identifier isdetermined and QoS (for example, a bit rate, a loss rate, or delay) issupported by using a resource determined according to the level value.The resource may be determined according to a resource corresponding tothe label by searching the previously stored resource reservation tableby stream. For example, if QoS on an audio stream is determined to be anUnsolicited Guaranteed Service (UGS) in IEEE 802.16, a QoS requirementdetermined accordingly is secured. Therefore, the resource reservationtable is stored in the network entity until the corresponding serviceends. For example, if a packet is received from a transmitting side, alabel of the corresponding packet is identified so that the QoSrequirement of the corresponding label stream is searched for in theresource reservation table and a service is provided according to thecorresponding resource.

FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating a configuration of a MANE according toan embodiment of the present disclosure.

Referring to FIG. 6, if a forwarding policy determining unit 609 of aMANE 600 receives a packet 606 from the transmission side, the packet isadaptively forwarded 610 according to a forwarding policy. Theforwarding policy may differ according to values of the media classifierincluded in the MAL information of the received packet.

If the MANE 600 supports a QoS scheme by service class, the MANE 600determines a class of the media classifier of the corresponding packet,and determines whether to forward the corresponding packet accordingly.Meanwhile, if the MANE 600 supports a per-flow QoS scheme (that is,per-stream), the MANE 600 determines the label value, determines aresource assigned to the corresponding label stored in a resourcereservation table 602 (inquiry-605, inquiry result reception-611),determines the available resource information of an available resourcedetermining unit 604 (inquiry-608, inquiry result reception-607),determines a forwarding policy within the available resource, andforwards 610 the packet.

FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating a configuration of a receivingapparatus according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

Referring to FIG. 7, a receiving apparatus 700 may be, for example, auser equipment and may include a decoder 704 for each stream, a receiver702 that receives a signal, and a controller 706 that controls thedecoder 704. The decoder 704 may include as many buffers (notillustrated) as needed.

If a packet received from the receiver 702 includes a label, thecontroller 706 determines the label, and checks the decoder 704 thatcorresponds to the packet. Further, if a packet received from thereceiver 702 does not include a label, the controller 706 reads a TCP orUDP header, and checks the decoder 704 for decoding of a media packet.

It should be understood that the configurations, operations, or flows ofsignals illustrated in FIGS. 3 to 7 are not directed to limit the scopeof the disclosure. For example, the configurations and operationsillustrated in FIGS. 3 to 7 are described for illustrative purposes, andit does not mean that the present disclosure should include all theprocesses, or the processes should be performed separately.

The operations described above can be realized by including a memoryapparatus that stores corresponding program codes in a certain componentin the network entity apparatus, such as the transmitter 300, thereceiving apparatus 700, or the MANE 600. For example, the component inthe network entity apparatus, such as the transmitter 300, the receivingapparatus 700, or the MANE 600 may be realized by a processor or aCentral Processing Unit (CPU) that reads and executes the program codesstored in the memory apparatus.

While the present disclosure has been shown and described with referenceto various embodiments thereof, it will be understood by those skilledin the art that various changes in form and details may be made thereinwithout departing from the spirit and scope of the present disclosure asdefined by the appended claims and their equivalents.

The invention claimed is:
 1. A method of transmitting a multimedia datapacket, the method comprising: identifying, by a processor of atransmitter, media abstraction layer (MAL) information relating tomultimedia data to be transmitted; generating, by the processor, amultimedia data packet including the MAL information; and transmitting,by the processor, the multimedia data packet, wherein the MALinformation comprises media classifier information indicating a priorityfor a transmission of the multimedia data packet, and wherein the MALinformation is identified in an application layer.
 2. The method ofclaim 1, wherein the media classifier information is included in any oneof a type of service (TOS) field of an internet protocol version 4(IPv4) packet header or a traffic class (TC) field of an internetprotocol version 6 (IPv6) packet header.
 3. The method of claim 1,wherein the MAL information comprises label information, and wherein thelabel information includes an identifier for differentiating a stream ofthe media data.
 4. The method of claim 3, wherein the label informationis included in any one of an extended field of an internet protocolversion 4 (IPv4) packet header or an extended field of an internetprotocol version 6 (IPv6) packet header.
 5. The method of claim 3,wherein the label information is generated by substituting a part thatrepeats in a user datagram protocol (UDP) header and a real-timetransport protocol (RTP) header of the multimedia data packet into aflow label.